


The One Where Jasper Sitwell Is Definitely Not A Babysitter (But He Totally Freaking Is)

by MsPerception427



Series: Triad of Awesome [2]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Clint Barton Feels, Clint Barton is a Little Shit, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Gen, Jasper Sitwell is Not Hydra, Origin Story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-27
Updated: 2020-04-27
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:07:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,638
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23879641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MsPerception427/pseuds/MsPerception427
Summary: Hawkeye. He was on his way to pick up the elusive assassin known only by the moniker Hawkeye. It was by large the most important and illustrious mission that Jasper Sitwell had ever been assigned in his admittedly brief tenure with SHIELD. If he had known it would end with him face-first in the dirt with a self-proclaimed lunatic kneeling on his back, he might have been a little less enthused about the whole thing.aka a side story in the Triad of Awesomeness detailing the start of Jasper Sitwell and Clint Barton's epic love/hate bromance.
Relationships: Clint Barton & Jasper Sitwell, Clint Barton & Phil Coulson, Phil Coulson & Jasper Sitwell
Series: Triad of Awesome [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/498319
Comments: 1
Kudos: 25





	The One Where Jasper Sitwell Is Definitely Not A Babysitter (But He Totally Freaking Is)

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This was originally posted on ff.net under All For One but thanks to the series function here, I can break them all up. In honor of my birthday and the 19th anniversary of me writing fanfiction, I decided to update some stuff and move some more stuff over here as well as add some new stories. A lot to do! But I hope someone out there enjoys!

**The One Where Jasper Baby-Sits**

Hawkeye. He was on his way to pick up the elusive assassin known only by the moniker Hawkeye. It was by large the most important and illustrious mission that Jasper Sitwell had ever been assigned in his admittedly brief tenure with SHIELD. He was starting to think that he would never be noticed by the higher-ups. He knew he tended to blend into the background occasionally (not everyone could be a backstabbing, social ladder climber like Maria Hill) but he had skills. He just needed an opportunity to show them off. And after almost three years, he was getting the feeling that he was never going to get that opportunity. He was beginning to believe that he was destined to a life of constantly being in the background, acting as ground support, and never seeing any of the action. That is until the morning he arrived at HQ and was informed that he would be accompanying senior field agent Phil Coulson on a mission to retrieve a valuable and highly classified asset.

It wasn't until he (happily) accepted the mission and boarded the Quinjet that he learned the identity of said asset. Jasper immediately recognized the benefit of bringing the man in. For starters, Hawkeye was well known in the intelligence world for performing hits in places no one would be able to shoot. In fact, his aim was legendary and there wasn't a shortage of agencies (both legit and otherwise) that were after him. Having him in SHIELD would mean one less potential threat to worry about. However, valid those reasons where there was one very important reason that Jasper saw to this recruitment. For some reason that Jasper was never made privy to, Phil had devoted a large amount of time and personnel to tracking the assassin's movements. They never got close enough to capture him or even observe him, always staying at least a day or two behind him.

Personally, Jasper never really understood why. Yes, Hawkeye was an assassin and yes, he killed. But in the year that he was active, there was not a single drop of blood spilled by someone that didn't deserve it. The assassin chose his targets carefully. There was not one innocent victim in sixteen months. The fact that he seemed particularly keen on blowing through the who's who of HYDRA head honchos just meant that most SHIELD agents usually turned a blind eye to him. Well, except for Phil. He seemed to keep tabs on the assassin with no interest in bringing him in. Until the morning he apparently received a phone call from the infamous assassin requesting that he be brought in. Phil agreed and then asked for backup. And somehow, by some miracle, Jasper was the chosen one.

Not only was it an honor to be chosen for such an important mission (friggin Hawkeye!) but it was a privilege to work along with Coulson. He was revered around the agency. Many called him Fury's missing eye. He was privy to all the information that came through SHIELD. If Phil didn't know about it, then it wasn't worth knowing. That, of course, explained why Phil was the only other person aside from Nick Fury to even know what Hawkeye looked like. No one else ever got close enough. Anyone that went after him usually ended up dead or regretting it. Needless to say, the fact that Phil was the one to have contact with Hawkeye pretty much solidified his reputation as a bonafide badass.

"Agent Sitwell."

Jasper snapped out of his thoughts as he realized that the Quinjet landed. Phil was staring at him with a carefully blank face that Jasper only hoped he could master with time.

"Yes, Agent Coulson, sir?"

"We're here. Before we exit, I just wanted to warn you. We're meeting with someone rather… unpredictable."

Jasper nodded. "I understand, sir. I've read the briefing and files we've accumulated on him. He has quite the body count."

"Yes, well, not all of those kills can be attributed to him. He has a, uh, well an associate of sorts. He can be quite protective of Hawkeye. He's the one that we need to be cautious of. Just follow my lead and you should be fine."

Jasper resisted the urge to raise an eyebrow at that and instead nodded. Phil gave him a reassuring smile and motioned for him to follow. As they left the plane, Jasper had only a minute to note that they were in a rather nondescript field before he was slammed into the unforgiving ground. Something heavy was resting on his back and making it even harder to breathe. He wheezed as he tried to get air back into his abused lungs.

"The hell…?" Jasper sputtered, trying to shift the weight off of his back to no avail. He could make out a red spandex-clad thigh pressed into the ground beside his head.

"Is that actually necessary, Wade? You all called us here, remember?" Phil asked, calmly. Jasper supposed Phil could afford to sound calm and rational seeing as he wasn't the one eating dirt at the moment!

"You didn't tell me you were bringing a friend," the person kneeling on Jasper's back apparently replied with a hiss. A sharp knee dug deeper into Jasper's spine. His spine stiffened when he felt something cold brush against the top of his head. Was that a gun? What the hell was going on? "You know I don't like making new friends, Cheese. What's the password?"

"Really? And stop calling me Cheese."

"I have to make sure its really you before I hand over the package. Cheese."

"The little bird will never truly fly until you fix his wings," Phil recited dryly. "I'm sure our little bird really appreciated that."

"Yeah, shockingly he really doesn't!" a third voice chimed in from somewhere in the distance. "Coulson, the deal was that you come and he goes! So why is he still here?!"

Phil chuckled. "Wade, stand down, please. My agent has no intentions to harm anyone"

"Aye, aye, Captain!" Jasper gave a sigh of relief as the weight shifted off his body at last. That quickly turned into a squeak of fear as he rose to his feet to face his attacker. The man continued speaking as if ignorant of Jasper's wide-eyed stared. "Although that's not entirely accurate. You're not the captain in this story. But I guess you'll do for now. The other guy is chilling at the moment. Get it? Chilling?"

"Deadpool?!" Jasper blurted out. He looked from the still rambling spandex-wearing maniac to Phil who did not look at all disturbed or even bothered by the man currently twirling a katana idly while scratching a spot on the back of his neck with one of his pistols. Wade 'Deadpool' Wilson was beyond insane. They hadn't developed a word in any language to describe the amount of crazy that man had in his head. And yet Phil was talking to him like they were old friends.

"Agent Jasper Sitwell meet Wade Wilson or Deadpool," Phil nodded in the assassin's direction. He then pointed to a spot behind the wing of the Quinjet. "And that is Hawkeye."

"Huh?" Jasper muttered, wondering if crazy was catching because there was clearly nothing there… then he noticed a small movement before a figure jumped down from a spot hidden just behind the wing. Jasper was only more confused as he realized that the figure was young. He was a teenager at most, but a kid nonetheless.

"How'd you know?" the kid asked, eyes narrowed.

Phil's lips tilted as he looked at Hawkeye. "Wade may be dangerous, eccentric and a raving lunatic but he's going through a peaceful period at the moment. With SHIELD agents at any rate. He wouldn't attack unless he felt there was a threat. Also, he looked that way before he jumped on Agent Sitwell. Then there's the fact that it's the highest spot that's still got cover."

Jasper watched as an assortment of thoughts and emotions flashed over the man known as Hawkeye's face before a bright smile formed. He looked really young in that moment. And slightly familiar. Jasper paused, a memory of a hint of that smile flashing through his mind. It was the year before. He wasn't there in the cell but watching through the security cameras that he and the IT agents hacked. He saw the kid before Phil did but it was Phil who elicited that fraction of a smile when he draped his jacket over the kid's body. The same kid who disappeared without a trace less than an hour later… with the jacket. Well, Jasper thought it was without a trace. But apparently….

"That's the kid from the HYDRA cell," Jasper said aloud, feeling somewhat foolish as everyone but him seemed to be read into this situation. "He's Hawkeye?!"

"Yeah," the kid replied, testily. "What's it to you, Four Eyes?"

"Clint," Phil warned. "Remember you called us for help. And yes, Agent Sitwell, this is Hawkeye. Clint Barton meet Jasper Sitwell."

"He's an agent? He's like a minute older than me!"

"I will have you know that I'm 25 years old. That's a far cry from 15."

"Hey, I'm 17, geek. I'm just compact for my age."

"How are you an assassin? Are you even old enough to buy a gun?"

"Right, because being a hired assassin is such a legal job. I must be going through totally legit channels to get my hands on weapons," Clint scoffed. He looked at Phil. "You sure SHIELD is going to be able to help me? Because if this guy is an indication of the best you have to offer then I'm totally screwed."

Phil gave a muffled huff of laughter that he quickly covered up. "Right, well. Clint, yes SHIELD will be able to help you. I promised you that last year and I mean it now. You don't have to do this on your own." He paused at the not so subtle throat clearing. "You don't count in this, Wade. You remember the deal. Your role in all of this is over. As of this moment, Clint is officially under the very capable protection of SHIELD."

"Wait, we're making him an agent? He's not even old enough to be a junior agent, sir."

"Of course, he's not going to be an agent," Phil shook his head. Jasper let out a sigh of relief while Clint looked upset. Phil's gaze softened minutely in his direction. "Clint, it's not that you're not capable, but essentially you're too young to engage in basic training. We have a lot of funders that come through that might not be pleased with the idea of a barely seventeen-year-old kid being a fully engaged agent. No, you're under SHIELD protection but you won't be an official agent until January of next year."

"What happens in January?"

"I turn eighteen," Clint answered Jasper softly. He stared at Phil for the longest before huffing. "Fine, I guess. It makes sense. But then what am I supposed to do until then. I'll get bored without things to do or people to kill." Another round of throat clearing. "I'm not going to be bored without you! I'm going to be happy without you! And able to sleep through the night without worrying about Russian assassins trying to kill us. I keep telling you not to piss off the Russians! They hold grudges like they hold their vodka. Forever and without falling over."

"Well, then you can rest easy, Clint. Because while there are no random homicides for you to engage in, there will also be no Russians for you to hide from."

"The kid is lying. He totally loves Russians," Deadpool muttered. "Especially redhead Russians."

"What does that even mean? I don't even know any redhead Russians!"

"Not yet."

"Can I kill him?" Clint begged. "Just a little bit?"

"No. He'll just heal and come back even more annoying than usual," Phil replied. "You clearly need an outlet. That's why I've brought Jasper along with me. Meet your unofficial handler until you can start training with the other new recruits. Agent Sitwell, it is your responsibility to help Clint to learn the basics, so that he will be ready to train next year."

"You got me a babysitter?!" Clint yelled, his voice cracking on several syllables. He looked at the silent Deadpool and sighed. "Correction, you got me another babysitter?" He crossed his arms over his chest, looking like he was three steps away from pouting. "I thought you were going to be my handler."

"I will be," Phil assured him. "When you're an actual field agent, I will be your handler. And Agent Sitwell is not your babysitter and you are not a child in need of constant supervision. You've been on your own for quite some time. And while you're obviously up to the task, there will be a lot of things that SHIELD is going to require of you that you might find… challenging. Think of Agent Sitwell as your tutor."

Jasper tried not to flinch under the kid's piercing glare. He wanted to tell him that he wasn't happy with this turn of events either. He just thought he was going to get to watch Phil bring in Hawkeye. He didn't think that Hawkeye would be a weird, teenage assassin with a chip on his shoulder and an oddly endearing case of hero worship for Phil. He sighed. That was something they both had in common. So maybe the kid wasn't that bad. Maybe he just needed some time (and distance away from Deadpool) to help mellow him out. Maybe this new job wouldn't be the worst thing ever.

* * *

Two months later, Jasper was willing to admit that his previous theory was absolutely correct. This job was absolutely the most difficult and horrible thing he had ever been asked to do. Ever. And he still had like ten more months to go. This was ridiculous. Clint was absolutely the most untrainable person in the history of ever. It wasn't that he was stupid. He was just a particularly special brand of lazy and his attention span rivaled a goldfish. And he had a comeback for everything. He delighted in coming up with new ways to harass Jasper.

He tried. He tried very hard but he couldn't do this anymore. He tried to explain this to Phil but the man was adamant that Jasper was the right man for the job. He tried suggesting Maria as an adequate replacement. He knew that was a stupid idea even before the words were fully out of his mouth. It would be a toss-up over who would kill who first between Clint and Maria if they were left to their own devices. Not to mention that no one knew, other than Nick and Phil, about Clint in the first place.

That was the other source of Jasper's annoyance with the whole situation. In order to protect Clint, or some crap like that, his dealings with SHIELD would be off the record until his eighteenth birthday. Meaning Jasper was frequently seen walking around with a kid that shouldn't exist and he couldn't explain. He was already a source of harassment amongst the other agents that went through training with him. Being the "boss' kid's babysitter" was just the icing on the cake.

He took a deep breath after walking out of Phil's office. The older agent had just finished explaining for the tenth time that week alone, that Clint was not being taken away from Jasper no matter what. Jasper tried to explain that the kid clearly didn't want to learn from him. Phil encouraged him to try another way. Jasper left at that point because yes, crazy really was catching and Phil never seemed to come back from that last meeting with Deadpool.

Jasper looked at his watch. Clint was scheduled to be in one of the small conferences room on Level Five going over the SHIELD manual for the thousandth time. Not that it even mattered a little to the kid because he interpreted rules to fit his own needs. But it kept him occupied and in the same room. At least he was _supposed_ to be there bored out of his mind. Jasper only needed to pause at the door of the room to know that the brat was in fact not there. There was only one other place (besides Phil's office where he just left) that managed to hold Clint's attention: the gun range.

He really wasn't surprised to find Clint there. For some strange reason, Clint was adamant about mastering his time on the range. The times when he was shooting or lining up a shot where the stillest he would ever be. His scores were shockingly high (well, shocking for Jasper. Phil appeared to know something he didn't know about that) but Clint still wasn't happy. There were times when he was slightly off target. It was still close enough to the target to be an effective kill but the fact that it wasn't perfect would send the kid into a bad mood that would be damn near impossible to shake off. So honestly, Jasper wasn't surprised to find that Clint was in the range. He was, however, very surprised to find him surrounded by several of the other agents.

For the most part, the older agents were keeping their distance. No one was quite sure what to make of the scrawny, mouthy teen that ghosted the hallways of SHIELD. Most of them were smart enough to realize that he had some kind of connection to Phil and Nick and therefore was not to be bothered. Agent Miles Harrison was not one of the smart ones. Jasper was firmly of the belief that Director Fury only brought him and his cretin friends on board and allowed them to stay so that they could serve as cannon fodder in some pending future alien invasion. The man was obnoxious to the say the least and a vicious bully to say the most. A bully that found a new target.

Jasper didn't know he was moving until he suddenly found himself standing beside Clint with a hand on one shoulder. The kid was glaring daggers at Harrison, though his smart-aleck mouth wasn't moving for once. Jasper could feel the slight trembling from Clint as the kid clearly struggled to hold both his tongue and his temper. Jasper didn't know what was happening before he got in the room, but he was happy that he was there now. Apparently Clint was too, as he relaxed somewhat under Jasper's touch.

"Is there a problem, Harrison?"

"Nope, just chatting with your pet. I was just telling him he was blocking a lane. A kid like him doesn't belong on the range. Especially when he's shooting like that!"

Jasper raised an eyebrow in Clint's direction. The kid shook his head. He shrugged off Jasper's hand, collected his gun, and started to leave. But Jasper reached out for him again. He squeezed the kid's shoulder before smirking up at Harrison.

"Care to make a wager then?"

"What?" Clint and Harrison chorused.

"It's simple," Jasper continued. "We'll have a shooting competition. Both opponents can use the weapon of their choice. The one that accurately hits the most targets in two minutes wins. The loser will be forced to be the personal errand boy of the winner for a month. This includes laundry duty as well." Harrison beamed while Clint looked apprehensive. Jasper smirked. "We will meet back here in an hour."

Harrison walked off with his cronies, loudly boasting about all the things he was going to make Clint do when he won. As Jasper said, he really wasn't one of the smart ones.

"What the hell was that?" Clint yelled as soon as they were gone. "I know that you don't really like me because I'm kind of obnoxious but that was really mean." Jasper could feel the hurt in his voice. Jesus, this kid. Clint looked down, hiding his eyes but Jasper knew they would be swimming with hurt and anger. "I didn't think you hated me that much."

Resisting the urge to hug him, because no, Jasper chose instead to snort and roll his eyes. "I don't hate you at all, brat. You're definitely more than kind of obnoxious. But Agent Coulson and Director Fury have invested a lot of time and effort into making you fit with SHIELD. I have to believe that there is a reason for it. So no, I don't hate you. And it wasn't mean because you're going to win."

"Harrison is a tool but he's got some of the best scores on the range," Clint said, sighing a little. "This stupid gun just isn't doing it for me. I'm getting better but…. I'm not a hundred percent sure that I can win."

Jasper nodded, thinking about Phil's advice from earlier. Clint wasn't stupid. He wasn't learning because Jasper hadn't yet found the right way to get through to him. He needed to think outside the box. Because while Clint was good with a gun in his hands, clearly even he was expecting something better. And, Jasper had to admit, he looked almost uncomfortable with the gun. Like his hands were expecting something…. Oh. Right. He remembered the first time they saw the kid. He didn't manage to take out an entire HYDRA cell with a friggin gun. He did it with a makeshift bow and arrow. Hell, his calling card as Hawkeye was an arrow to the target's knee (this was apparently Deadpool's idea. Jasper was secretly of the belief that Clint agreed because he thought it was funny too). At any rate, Jasper finally realized what he was doing wrong. Of course, the kid was uncomfortable with a gun.

"Brat, I think I might have something that will help with that," Jasper announced. He motioned for Clint to follow him to the weapons locker. Once it was open, he found exactly what he was looking for. He pointed it out to the kid, who lit up like it was Christmas. "I think that this might be more your style."

Clint took the bow in his hands and smiled. It was a genuine smile, the kind only Phil got. Jasper was forced to admit that it felt kind of good to be the reason the kid was beaming like that. Especially since it didn't involve any direct humiliation on his part.

"So you think you might be able to use that?"

Clint nodded before pulling out a quiver full of arrows. He silently walked over to the row of targets, choosing the ones the furthest away, and notched the first arrow. Jasper watched in mild fascination and more than a little awe as Clint quickly fired off six arrows back to back without missing a single target. And at that moment, Jasper finally understood why the kid was so pissed when he off using the gun. He never missed when he had a bow and arrow in his hands. That was something that they would have to work on. Because he strategically wouldn't always have access to a bow and his aim and eyesight proved he could probably handle any weapon…. But that was an issue for his actual handler to be concerned with. For right now, they had a contest to win.

An hour and five minutes later, Jasper watched as Clint crowed loudly in Harrison's face about all the many things he was going to force the moronic agent to do for him. The whole situation was made even more embarrassing because Harrison had called a large group of witnesses to watch his humiliating defeat to a teenager. And he couldn't say anything about due to the presence of Nick. The director stood not too far from where Clint was still rubbing it in Harrison's face. Jasper smiled. Maybe he was a twerp. Maybe he was a total pain in the ass but put a bow in his hand and he was probably going to be one of the best agents SHIELD ever had.

"You know, you could've just told me to give him a bow," Jasper commented aloud. He heard Phil chuckle from where he stood behind him. "That would've saved us all a lot of unnecessary dramatics. I swear he was about to cry when I first made the bet. Do you know how much therapy I would've needed if that happened?"

"I knew you would figure it out on your own. Besides I needed you to figure it out on your own," Phil explained. He moved out of the shadows where he probably stood watching the whole competition. "A lot of recruits want to be field agents. And it's a great job but most people forget that a field agent is nothing without a handler. You could be the best field agent but if your handler is crap then you're destined for failure. You could be a great handler." He smirked at Jasper's look of horror in Clint's direction. "Maybe not with him. You two would kill each other in the long run. No, I'll be taking over as promised in January. But I want you to keep working with him in the meantime. I think this is working out for both of you."

"Exactly how high did you have to jump to reach that conclusion?"

Phil only smiled patiently. It was the same smile he gave Clint when he thought that the teen was being adorable and obtuse. Jasper wanted to protest that. He almost did but there was suddenly a habitually adorable and obtuse teen hanging off his shoulder. Jasper did a double-take as he realized this was the first time Clint initiated some sort of physical contact. It also said something about the level of familiarity that existed between them that Jasper didn't even notice Clint until he was hanging off his shoulder like a baby sloth.

So maybe that's where the whole helping each other idea came from. Huh. There might be something to that after all. Still wouldn't do well to let the brat get too comfortable. He shrugged Clint off, giving him a mock glare. The smile he received back let him know that the message was understood. Jasper felt himself smiling as well.

"So, Four Eyes, wanna throw your stuff in with mine when my new slave does my laundry?"

"I already throw my stuff in with yours…. When I do your laundry!" Clint blinked slowly. "Seriously?! You haven't done laundry since you moved in here and yet your clothes are clean. That didn't seem… odd to you?"

"You touch my underwear?"

Jasper spluttered for a minute trying to find something to say when he realized that the brat was laughing. At him. He reached over to hit him but found himself swatting at the air. He glanced up just in time to see Clint disappearing into one of the air vent panels. Jasper then looked to an amused Phil. The younger man pointed to the vent.

"Uh, should we be concerned about that?"

Phil shook his head. "No. I don't think it'll be a problem."

"You do know that you and I have very different opinions on what's a problem when it comes to Barton, right?"

"I'm aware."

Jasper sighed, already resigning himself to long days spent chasing the idiot out of the ventilation system and away from scaring agents by popping out of the vents. It strangely didn't bother him as much as it did two months ago. At least there was the bright side in all of this. At least it was only Clint.


End file.
